Patches of Yellow

All through the months of April and May the countryside around us has been splashed with patches of yellow. Wide swathes, actually. It really looks stunning, as you look out over a valley to see a patchwork quilt of different shades of green accentuated by these bright solid squares of yellow. It has just started to fade, so the flowers are in their waning days of flowering, I think.

I finally discovered that the yellow fields were oilseed rape that is raised to make rapeseed oil. Why do they call it oilseed rape instead of rapeseed? I don't know. But that's what everyone I've talked to calls it. They call the oil rapeseed oil and the plant oilseed rape. It makes an oil like canola oil in the United States.

Anyway, according to my friends here, I think there's some worry among the eco- and health-conscious that this rise of monoculture has environmental and health concerns. There is an awful lot of it! Maybe it's another example of Britain adopting increasingly American forms of mass agriculture (animal factory farms are becoming more common, too.) I haven't actually read anything about it myself, although I know the dominance of monoculture in the United States has been disastrous for all sorts of things, so I wouldn't be especially surprised if it's a problem here, too.

Whether it's a problem or not, it's awfully pretty at this time of year. The photos don't do it justice at all, as they were all taken (from the passenger's seat, don't worry) while driving along at the insane speeds that are legal here in the country.